2013 - Mugaritz

We had read online that the place opens promptly at 8pm, and to be prepared to wait outside. This was not the case (although surprisingly it wasn’t raining up in the mountains). We were greeted promptly by the restaurant staff and led to a small house adjacent to the restaurant, where the maitre d' fed a log into the wood burning stove and offered us a welcome drink. We each accepted a glass of cava, lounging in the romantic little house for about 10 minutes.

At that time the staff came to get us and brought us to our table. The space at Mugaritz is very wide open, maybe only about 12-15 tables. We were told later that they usually have no more than 50 dinners in a service (both at dinner and lunch). We were given a table in the back end of the room, behind a screen. The table was like a big round banquet style table, but just for the two of us. It was nice not being squeezed into a really small two top crammed between two other couples, like is often the case.

We were offered the wine list, but since we had decided to be surprised at what we would be served, we were unsure what to order. We debated on if we should just get a cava when we asked if they could provide a drink pairing for the meal. The sommelier said it was possible, so even though it was more expensive (95 Euro each), we decided to choose that.

The first course was brought out –

Edible stones – these were potatoes encrusted in a crisp coating that made them resemble rocks. This was served with a garlic aioli. This was fun and whimsical and the flavor was what one would expect from a roasted potato with garlic aioli.

The first drink pairing was Fino en Rama Saca de mayo from Bodega Gutierrez Colosia which makes this Sherry just for Mugaritz. It is a dry, white sherry, instead of a sweeter caramel colored one.

The second course was “Fishbones” with nuances of lemon, garlic and cayenne pepper. These were quite addictive, like potato chips, crunchy bits with a hint of garlic. This was also served with the first drink pairing.

The next course was Carrots and their smeared flowers. This was prettier than it was tasty. Not that it tasted bad, it was really just nothing unexpected. As far as carrots go, I’d give the edge (by a wide margin) to Next from the Hunt menu.

The fourth course was Smoked toast with lobster. This was served on a hot flat stone, a flatbread with 2 small pieces of lobster with what I believe was a lentil puree in the center, topped with sage leaves. This was good, but since neither one of us love lobster, we still thought the dish was well executed, just not for our palates.

The fifth course was fried lovage leaf with cinnamon cream. This was a beautifully golden tempura leaf and was outstanding. The hint of cinnamon in the cream was delectable. This was definitely one of our favorite courses. I would order this again and again.

The sixth course was wild sea barnacles in their own gel. I’ll admit these buggers are not exactly beautiful to look at and their own gel admittedly conjured up, some interesting thoughts, but the flavor was really just a sea flavor and the texture was similar to snails. Interesting but not necessarily something I would order again.

The next drink pairing came out and was Tokubetsu Junmaishu Sake from Gipu, Nakashima Jozo Kozaemon, very clear light crisp sake. This sake had hints of macadamia nut flavor which paired really well with the next course.

The seventh course was Threads of spider crab with vegetable mucilage, macadamias and pink peppercorns. This was a very nice course, both in pairing and in overall flavor. The only negative, is that the spidercrab threads kind of got stuck in your teeth, but overall, very tasty.

The next drink pairing was Sidra Inuin from Sagardo Naturala. This cidar was cloudy, but definitely better in aroma than the one from Next. And it paired well with the next course.

The eighth course was Sea anemone and mountain watercress puree. This was another good course; the sea anemone was very much like a snail, both in flavor and texture.

The next drink pairing was Bual 10 year old Madeira from Henriques & Henriques. The Madeira was quite nice.

We were now offered a tour of the kitchen. It is clear that the kitchen is newer, having been replaced in recent years due to a fire that destroyed the old one. The kitchen was huge and bustling. It was amazing to see the number of staff involved with preparing/serving/plating 22+ courses for 50 people.

We were greeted by one of the staff (we didn’t catch his name), who was actually from Mexico City and explained our next course: Macarons (unfortunately no picture was taken). Our chef friend explained that these macarons were made in the traditional way, back in the 1700’s. Back then most of the sweets were made only on special occasions, and during a slaughter, when all parts of the animals were used to make “pudding” and thus how blood pudding got his name. He then told us that these luscious macarons we just ate were made from blood. There was no iron-y flavor or offputting flavor at all, they simply tasted like fabulous almost chocolaty flavor. The chef asked us if we still liked the macarons now that we knew how they were made. We said we didn’t mind at all. For us, if the flavor is good, that’s all that matters. He seemed a bit surprised as he had previous customers who were not happy to hear the delicious macaron was made from blood. We then posed for a picture and headed back to our table to finish this amazing feast.

Back at our dining table, the Madeira was paired with course ten – Duck juice with tofu. The presentation came out looking more like a flan than as a savory dish, but the flavors were definitely savory. This is a tofu dish I could eat gladly. And I loved the playful presentation that made it look like dessert and not a savory dish. The rich, flavorful duck gravy was fantastic.

The Eleventh course was Mugaritz shark fin soup without the shark fin in a roasted cauliflower broth with shredded asparagus. The flavors in the broth here were amazing, but the shredded asparagus was a little hard to eat because it was longer than the spoon. Even with that minor difficulty, this is something I would order again.

Next came the bread course, which they save until the middle so as to limit getting the customers too full too quickly. Which is really a good idea as there is a LOT of food served throughout the course of this meal.

When the bread was brought out, it was a game. The game was such that you got a bag with 3 game pieces in it and you were to take them out put them in one hand behind your back and then select 1-3 of them with your other hand and hold that out for your dining partners to guess what the total number of the table had in their hand and the winner would get a “prize”. Well, Mark guessed 3 and I guessed 5, but the answer was 4. Since there was no “winner” we were able to split the prize, which was part of the thirteenth course – Roe with roasted bone marrow. The prize of the roe added a nice pop of saltiness and texture to the creamy roasted bone marrow. This was a fantastic course.

The next drink pairing was Placet 09 Rioja Blanco from Palacios Remondo, a nice crisp white wine.

The fourteenth course was another surprise course not being on the menu, but it was some crusted raw (or nearly raw) fish with white “snow”. The flavor was okay, but the texture was too creamy. It was not one of our favorite courses, but it was pretty.

The next drink pairing was another sake : “Dreamy Clouds” Tokubetsu Junmai Nigori Sake, from Shimane, Rihaku. This, as the name implies was a cloudier sake but had they traditional sake flavors one expects from a good cold sake.

The fifteeth course was Loin of hake, tiger nut starch and concentrated clam juice. This was really good. The depth of flavor in the broth was really good and rich. The fish was cooked perfectly and well-seasoned. This was a winning dish for sure.

The next pairing was a Nora de Neve 07 from Rias Baixas Vina Nora. This was a nice crisp Albarino wine.

The sixteenth course was one of our favorites, it really had so much flavor; Garlic and chicken soup with roasted loin of sea bream. This was served in yet another beautiful broth and the fish was of course, well-seasoned and cooked to perfection. Definitely something I would order again and again. Honestly this was something I wish I could make.

The next drink pairing was Finca Sandoval 08 from Manchuela.

The seventeenth course was Sweetbread of suckling lamb with seasonal mushrooms. As expected Sue didn’t like the mushrooms, but the sweetbreads were good. Mark like the whole dish. It was very pretty with the thinly shaved mushrooms atop the sweetbread/mushroom mixture.

The eighteenth course was Chippings of puffed lamb with a caramel coat. Sue didn’t get the caramel coat, but the lamb was tender and cooked to a beautiful medium rare and the puffed lamb chippings were crunchy and tasty.

The next drink pairing was a Cerveza Ahumada from Hasparen – Etxeko Bob’s beer. This was a smoked beer with definitive smoke on both the palate and the nose. Interesting, but not for drinking alone, although it was an interesting pairing with the first dessert course.

We were now offered the option of a cheese course, or heading straight to dessert. By this time we were getting pretty full and since we had cheese at lunch we declined the cheese course and jumped into the desserts.

The nineteenth course and first dessert course was Iced rye cream with aged toffee. This was really good and the rye in the ice cream paired well with the smoke of the beer.

The last drink pairing was Masia Pairal Can Carreras from Emporda, Cellar Marti Fabra, similar to a sherry. From north of Barcelona, outside of Girona.

The Twentieth course was Mocha in its lightest version. This was really good, even with the strong mocha flavor, Mark really liked it. It was a light airy crispy mocha wafer. Very good.

The Twenty-first course was Frozen Almond Turron. This was a nougat ice cream type concoction served between two wafers. Sue really liked this.

The Twenty-second course was Glass – Sugar and cocoa as a cookie. This was a chocolate and coconut flavored cookie. The coconut flavor was light and not overpowering, nice cookie.

We were then offered coffee and Sue decided, why not?, so she ordered a Cappuccino, which was pretty good, although she did need to add sugar.

We had mentioned that it was Mark’s birthday on our kitchen tour and we were presented with yet another surprise course – a piece of birthday cake for Mark. The small piece of cake came wrapped in a cloth sack, which when unwrapped, we found a piece of poppy seed cake and a smear of frosting with a candle. The inside of the sack was a world map. Very good, but at this point we were really close to exploding!

We were informed that we were not yet done – for course twenty-four we needed to complete the 7 deadly sins. After such a phenomenal meal, we had no idea how we were going to find room for these "7 deadly sins", They proceeded to bring out a wood tower puzzle with markings on the side to represent the 7 deadly sins. Admittedly, the playfulness of what was presented was amazing and the representation of the seven deadly sins was not only whimsical and inventive, but absolutely delicious.

Sin 1 – Pride, inside this tier were two egg shaped gold leaf crusted hollow chocolates.

Sin 2 – Envy - Two pieces of chocolate, one white, one dark.

Sin 3 – Wrath – These were for lack of a better description, spicy peeps squares. Marshmallowy squares covered in some spicy mixture. Pretty perfect representation for the wrath sin.

Sin 4 – Gluttony – was a large serving of chocolate covered, cocoa dusted crunchy bits, almost like corn nuts.

Sin 5 – Greed – this was empty, which we thought was a really playful take on that, especially when Sue first saw there was nothing in it she said "it's empty, I feel cheated." (So, apparently, Sue is greedy).

Sin 6 – Lust – two pink rubbery cups of ooey gooey caramel.

Sin 7 – Sloth – two dark chocolate candies, at which point you are so stuffed, you can’t even move! The Monty Python skit of a thin mint takes on a whole new meaning after this fabulous meal...

And so this ended the meal – over 4 ½ hours later! We paid our bill and the called for a taxi for us. Our taxi driver didn’t speak English, but we still managed to have a conversation with him on the way home. Of course, we’re not sure if we completely understood what he was trying to tell us and vice versa, but he seemed like a nice old man.

Completely stuffed, we retired to the apartment to watch a show before calling it a night at 2am!